King’s boys rise to challenge on Welsh tour

SCHOOLS SPORT SIMON CARTER

THE King’s School’s young rugby players trod in the footprints of giants when they played at the world-renowned Cardiff Arms Park on their inaugural tour of South Wales.

The Macclesfield U13 squad played three matches against the cream of top Welsh club sides with names such as Gareth Edwards, Mervyn Davies and JPR Williams echoing from the game’s glorious past.

It was the King’s first introduction to the 15-a-side game in a region where rugby isn’t just a matter of life and death, “it’s more important than that,” and King’s boys stood tall against a strong physical challenge.

The 20 boys were kept busy with three fixtures against local club sides; Pontypridd, Llandaff and St Peter’s, the last of which was played at Cardiff Arms Park, home of the Blues and several European Cup Finals. Player of the Tour award went to Oli Watson for his physicality around the park while ‘Man of the Tour’ went to Toby Denton.

The boys were highly competitive, losing to Pontypridd 34-19 and St Peter’s 39-0 in the formal encounters, but as coach Giles Hetherington said: “Unless you have lived in South Wales you simply cannot comprehend how important the game is to their identity.

“They live and breathe rugby and at the age of 13 will have been already been playing the game for many years, so we told our boys to expect a challenge. It was a massive learning curve and a privilege to play in the Arms Park and these young men will be all the harder to beat come the following season in England when they will be coached by Richard Lees, a Sale Sharks development coach.”